Swiss to take refugees under EU distribution programme

September 18, 2015 12:44 PM

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ZURICH, Sept 18 Switzerland will accept up to 1,500 asylum seekers registered in Italy and Greece under the European Union's July programme to distribute 40,000 people in need as long as the Dublin system of handling refugees remains intact, the government said on Friday.

Neutral Switzerland, which has taken in only a fraction of the migrants trekking north from the Middle East and Africa, also committed to increasing by 70 million Swiss francs ($73.3 million) its aid earmarked for people affected by crises in Syria, Iraq and the horn of Africa.